The Winning Brief

100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts

Third Edition

Bryan A. Garner

Revised and updated version of the modern classic, The Winning Brief.

An invaluable resource for attorneys, law clerks, judges, paralegals, law students and their teachers.

Includes quotable quotes from experts, how to build sound paragraphs, draft crisp sentences, choosing the best words, quoting authority, citing sources, and designing a document that looks as impressive as it reads.

If you're writing to win a case, this book shouldn't merely be on your shelf--it should be open on your desk.

New to this Edition:

Summary checklists at the end of each tip, recapping the points just covered and suggesting further ideas for improvement.

Nine entirely new tips that contain some of the book's most useful advice (some tips consolidated to make room).

Improved quotations and illustrations throughout.

Amplified explanations throughout.

A new appendix on the best brief ever written.

Fully updated indexes.

The Winning Brief

100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts

Third Edition

Bryan A. Garner

Description

In its first two editions, The Winning Brief explained the art of effective writing in 100 concise, practical, and easy-to-use tips, proving that the key to writing well is to understand the judicial readership. This third edition of Bryan A. Garner's modern classic delivers the same invaluable guidelines with even more supporting evidence. Covering everything from the rules for planning and organizing a brief to openers that can capture a judge's attention from the first few words, these tips add up to the most compelling, orderly, and visually appealing brief that an advocate can present.

In Garner's view, good writing is good thinking put to paper. "Never write a sentence that you couldn't easily speak," he warns - and demonstrates how to do just that. Every tip begins with a set of quotable quotes from experts, followed by Garner's masterly advice on building sound paragraphs, drafting crisp sentences, choosing the best words ("Strike pursuant to from your vocabulary."), quoting authority, citing sources, and designing a document that looks as impressive as it reads. Throughout, Garner shows how to edit for maximal impact, using vivid before-and-after examples that apply the basics of rhetoric to persuasive writing.

In this much-expanded third edition, Garner has perfected the text with nine new tips, hundreds of new examples, and amplified explanations throughout-all in his trademark style. Among the new sections are tips on understanding judges' reading habits, answering opponents' arguments, writing effective reply briefs, using authorities persuasively, and organizing arguments based on statutes and contracts. Quotable quotes, which Garner carefully assembled after years of wide reading and close study, have been expanded and improved throughout the book. There is also a new appendix on a remarkable brief that some consider the best ever written ("a beautiful marriage of rhetorical skill, thorough research, and humane lawyering").

Perhaps the biggest change to this edition is that every tip now ends with a summary checklist that recaps and crystalizes the subpoints just covered, with further ideas for improvement. Garner conceived these checklists in part as a way to help readers approach his book as a set of 100 tutorials. Reviewing and practicing each tip will offer brief-writers a degree of mastery that more cavalier colleagues will find difficult to equal.

An invaluable resource for attorneys, law clerks, judges, paralegals, law students and their teachers, The Winning Brief has the qualities that make all of Garner's books so popular: authority, accessibility, and page after page of techniques that work. If you're writing to win a case, this book shouldn't merely be on your shelf--it should be open on your desk.

The Winning Brief

100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts

Bryan A. Garner

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third EditionPreface to the Second EditionAcknowledgmentsPrologue (Tip 1)Composing in an Orderly, Sensible Way (Tips 2-10)Conveying the Big Picture (Tips 11-19)Marching Forward Through Sound Paragraphs (Tips 20-26)Editing for Brisk, Uncluttered Sentences (Tips 27-43)Choosing the Best Words (Tips 44-56)Punctuating for Clarity and Impact (Tips 57-62)Becoming Proficient in Designing Text (Tips 63-69)Sidestepping Some Common Quirks (Tips 70-84)Capitalizing on Little-Used Persuasive Strategies (Tips 85-91)Hitting Your Stride as a Brief-Writer (Tips 92-100)Appendix A: A before-and-after makeover of a motion to dismissAppendix B: A petition for discretionary reviewAppendix C: A remarkable appellee's briefSelect BibliographyIndex

The Winning Brief

100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts

Third Edition

Bryan A. Garner

Author Information

A best-selling legal author with more than a dozen titles to his credit, Bryan Garner is also the editor-in-chief of Black's Law Dictionary in all of its current editions. He has taught at numerous law schools, and is the president of LawProse, Inc., a Dallas-based company that provides writing and drafting seminars to lawyers and judges throughout the United States.

Contributors:

Single authored work (Bryan Garner)

The Winning Brief

100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts

Third Edition

Bryan A. Garner

Reviews and Awards

"He is a word man without peer, and his usage and grammar rules are gospel." --The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

"All lawyers who rely upon written argument in their practices shoud have a copy of the book close at hand." --New York Law Journal

"A thoroughly valuable and original reference for lawyers who want to win. It deserves a spot on every litigator's bookshelf." --The Federal Lawyer

"All judges should attach a copy of The Winning Brief to each briefing schedule they order from the bench.... A valuable addition to any library with legal writing resources." --Legal Information ALERT

"A book on 'writing' should be fun to read. In his book, Garner makes his teaching fun with the use of examples and quotations.... The more time you spend with this book, the more persuasive you arguments could be, whether in support of a motion or in support of habeas corpus." --The Colorado Lawyer

"The profession badly needs an accessible primer for advice on and solutions to the most common problems. Bryan Garner's The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts is just such text. All lawyers who rely upon written argument in their practices shoud have a copy of the book close at hand." --New York Law Journal